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Posted: 1/20/2009 6:29:23 AM EDT
| I am having a short stroking problem on a 308 Garand. The rifle is a documented John Miller build so i would expect things to be good with it. what i know. Rifle greased properly, gas port checks at a #36 drill bit. Ammo is 168gr boat tails with a load of 42.5 gr of Win 748 and chronys at 2550 avg. The rifle keeps short stroking with the ejected rounds travelling back to the 5 and occasionally 4 o'clock direction. (my .06 M1 ejects towards 2 o'clock) the bolt short strokes over the rounds in the en bloc and occasionally will not even eject the en bloc. I tried a fellows south african ammo and it accomplished the same thing. it is a bedded action, the gas hole aligned and the gas plug was tight. rifle has a national match op rod, and a douglas barrel. also odd, the rifle grouped extremely well (.75 to 1 at 100 off of varmiter rest), but to establish zero, the front sight had to be drifted till blade was even with left side of base, and about 4 clicks of right on the rear windage. I expected a lot more considering what the rifles builder, but am at a bit of a loss to it fix. at least its accurate as hell. |
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Quite possibly,if the barrel isn't timed right, that the op rod is rubbing, since it will not be centered. Do the tilt test. Take the trigger gaurd out, and all the interanls, leaving in the bolt and op rod. Tilt the rifle and see if the op rod and bolt slike smoothly to the rear.
If the rifle was shooting to the left, which it sounds like from the description of the sights, then the barrel is not screwed on tight enough, and needs to be tightened a bit. |
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I had a similar problem with mine. The first thing I found was a '06 size gas port instead of .308 and I see you checked that already. I still had some short stroking after drilling ouyt the port so I installed a Schuster adjustable gas plug in mine and got it tuned in. No more short stroking and a reduction in group size by about an inch on average. Win, win.
I would see about getting the barrel timed better. Have you contacted the builder yet? |
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well a bit pissed and a bit miffed. Had Bruce Dow look he rifle over today. timed right (actually darn perfect he stated)....loads should be good....gas hole ok....gas cylinder off a bit.... failing tilt....
....Barrel Bent. 
a .229 test stud hangs about halfway down the barrel. my deal rifle is suddenly a crud gun. barrel has a left bend that you can see with a straight edge after we started looking for it. time for a new barrel or hunt down the seller 
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Try replacing the operating rod spring.
Start with a new USGI first. The builder may have installed a Wolff extra power spring or a heavier than standard stainless steel spring, both are recommended for use with .308 Garands but your rifle may not need them. HTH |
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